As you know I did a couple plane rehabs and now the paint is cured but it feels kinda rough to the touch. How can I get the paint to feel smoother like the way it looks? Also when I touch it there is a scuff mark left even if I just rub it a little with my finger. I know my hands are rough but this is ridiculous. It’s a very light scuff mark you would have to be holding the plane in your hand to see it or I would have to magnify it.I was hoping someone could give some clue as to how to solve these problems, I was thinking about using some rubbing compound but if anyone knows anything better please let me know?

Ike, it almost sounds like the paint isn’t fully cured or dried ?That’s the only thing I can think of if you can finger skuff it.As far as the feeling rough, perhaps there’s not enough paint there, and you’re realy feeling the roughness of the casting under the paint ?

Maybe the baking process had a negative effect on the paint because it was not the heat-resistant type. I have read of guys using engine paint and then baking it on, but maybe that’s not a good idea for regular paint.

I’ve done 5 or 6 planes so far following the same procedure… applying several light coats about 30 minutes apart… and the paint was smooth and hard as a rock by the next day.

The paint came out very hard it’s just like a scuff as if you had a piece of acrylic and rubed it with a hard papertowel, mabe I’m just being pickey about it I’ll try the rubbing compound and see what happens!

I doubt its the paint. Even a cheap can of spray paint should leave a decent enough surface after it drys.

I think the issue may be with the plane and or prep work. What kind of plane is it? I ask because I have had some planes that were not made by Stanley that had a really rough metal casting almost like it was bumpy.

Also did you strip all the old finish off? Was it sanded before you painted? Did you use any primer?

Nothing about bakeing the finish but what I did was heat the oven and turn it off then put the plane in there after it had about 1 day to dry. As for the prep of the plane the only thing I didn’t do was use primer, I did take all the paint off and sanded as much as I can. They are record planes I don’t see what that would have to do with the paint though.